Which will prevail? Reform or Progressive influence

Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper will soon get to sit at the big desk. What that will mean for Aboriginal people is still very much a mystery. But given the history of the Reform Party's approach to Aboriginal issues and the influence enjoyed in Harper's Conservative party by former Reformers, Aboriginal leaders are worried.

Monte Solberg, one of the many leftover Reform Party of Canada members in the new government's caucus, pried open the industrial strength cone of silence that the Conservative Party of Canada had imposed on its candidates for most of the campaign just long enough to throw everything into confusion.
In an interview with CJWW Radio in Saskatchewan, Solberg derided the agreement on Aboriginal issues reached at the first ministers meeting in November 2005.

"[The] Kelowna agreement is something that they crafted at the last moment on the back of a napkin on the eve of an election. We're not going to honor that. We will have our own plan that will help Natives a lot more than the Liberals."

The problem is, the Conservative's Indian Affairs critic, a former Progressive Conservative party member Jim Prentice, had already stated that his party supported the Kelowna agreement.

He did so when he addressed the chiefs at the Assembly of First Nations special assembly in early December and he repeated that position in meetings with alarmed First Nation leaders after Solberg made his comments.

After that, the biggest question was-and will continue to be-which ideology will be applied to federal Indian policy: Prentice's or Solberg's? Reform or Progressive Conservative?

The First Nation and Metis leadership, seeing their world threatened by the Conservative party's rise, urged their members to vote. The AFN was cagey, telling their citizens to vote for the party with the best Aboriginal platform. Several Metis groups came right out and endorsed the Liberals.

The biggest concern was that Harper was not unreservedly endorsing the first ministers meeting agreement and the recently negotiated residential school compensation agreement.

British Columbia chiefs issued a harsh rebuke to Solberg after he made his comments. In a press release with the title "Conservative Party Declares War on Aboriginal People," Penticton Indian Band Chief Stewart Phillip took aim at the Medicine Hat MP.

"I am completely shocked and deeply angered to learn that a Stephen Harper government would simply rip up the hard-fought historic agreement, which represents a $5.1 billion investment commitment to Canada's Aboriginal population," Phillip said. "We take great offence to the arrogant notion that these comprehensive 10-year goals and objectives were scribbled on the back of a napkin at the last moment. Nothing could be further from the truth. The proposals discussed at the Kelowna first ministers meeting were the result of nearly two years of nationwide consultations and conferences."

Phillip, who has gone from a hard line chief to a key participant in the BC First Nations Leadership Council, warned that his people's hopes had been raised in Kelowna and there would be consequences if they were disappointed.

"In the event that the Conservative Party of Canada forms government and completely reneges on the commitments made at the Kelowna first ministers meeting, it will essentially represent a declaration of war on the Aboriginal people of Canada. Simply put, it will be 'back to the barricades.' Rather than enjoying a decade of respect and reconciliation, we shall be faced with the grim reality of a decade of conflict and confrontation," he said.

The best clue as to how the new government would approach Aboriginal issues is a letter written by Harper to Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) leader Dwight Dorey. After reading the letter, Dorey surprised many by endorsing the Conservatives. He pointed out that it was an endorsement by the CAP national executive and was not binding on the regional affiliates. At least one of those affiliates, the United Native Nations based in Vancouver, publicly criticized the move. A number of Metis people wrote letters to this publication saying that CAP very definitely did not speak for them.

The eight-page response to CAP, signed by Harper, makes many commitments.

The leader said his party "agrees with the objective of reducing Aboriginal poverty within a five to 10-year plan, as was mentioned at the first ministers meeting in Kelowna."

Harper added that his party intends to amend Section 67 of the Human Rights Act so that it will apply on reserve and to do something concrete about "the problems relating to matrimonial rights" on reserve.
He said the gray areas in provincial-federal jurisdiction will be more clearly defined.

"Canada needs policies and programs to alleviate Aboriginal poverty that are grounded in common sense and the acceptance of responsibility. It is time for the federal government to quit 'passing the buck' and it is time for everyone to accept their share of responsibility: the federal government, Aboriginal government, the provincial governments and individual Canadians-both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal," Harper wrote. "A Conservative government will acknowledge its jurisdiction for basic programs and services to 'Indians and lands reserved for Indians.' Legislation will be enacted in the main program areas. Ottawa will become responsible for results, ending four decades of service gaps and offloading costs onto the provinces. Legislation will provide a proper basis for accountability at departmental and First Nations levels. The existing financial transfer agreements will be replaced with ones that work."

Harper said his party "realizes that the treaties did not place all the obligations upon the Indians; the Crown took on obligations of its own."

And Stephen Harper pledged to take a look at the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

"The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was established to help restore justice to the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada, and to propose practical solutions to structural problems. The Conservative Party of Canada will act on these recommendations."
He promised to review how off-reserve residents receive services.

"The Conservative Party of Canada believes that the ratio for funding on-reserve and off-reserve programs and services should reflect the needs expressed by Aboriginal communities. We believe that there needs to be a realignment of federal Aboriginal expenditures to include appropriate and adequate distribution of resources in order to accommodate the needs of off-reserve and non-status Indians. We are prepared to discuss the current ratio with the interested parties in order to assure that this funding is directed towards the needs of Aboriginal communities."

Harper let it be known that his party will work towards improved governance and even raised the spectre of the First Nations Governance act.

"The election of Aboriginal governments, and the accountability of those governments to those who elect them, must be governed by an election code, a governance framework, and accountability obligations that are comparable to those enjoyed by other Canadian citizens under the rule of law," he wrote. "The Conservative Party of Canada will work in consultation and collaboration with Aboriginal Canadians to develop this framework. We support the efforts that have been made at the reform of Aboriginal affairs since the Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable in April 2004. In the past, the First Nations Governance act was a strong pillar to advance the important reforms and we strongly support this bill."